Chasing Shadows
by Dovewings.of.Narnia
Summary: After overhearing a fight between Peter and Susan, Lucy is unable to sleep. When she accidentally wakes up Edmund, he reminds her of how Susan has never let her family down before. One-shot with sibling bonding!


**Okay. This is my first story on here! So don't be too hard on me, please. :p **

**It takes place about a year after VDT, book-verse, making the Pevensies 11, 13, 15, and 16, according to C.S. Lewis's timeline. It's nothing that substantial, but I think it turned out pretty cute. Read and review, please! I appreciate constructive criticism, as long as you're polite about it. ;) **

**Disclaimer: I (obviously) don't own The Chronicles of Narnia or any of the Pevensies. They belong to the brilliant C.S. Lewis and his estate.  
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Shadows played on the ceiling above Lucy Pevensie's bed. She lay awake, eyes open, watching them intently. _Let's see… That one could be a tree, and then maybe a dragon for that one… There!_ A smile slid across her face. That one made a perfect lion, even if only for a second.

Rolling onto her side, she faced the wall. The faded off-red wallpaper had a snag just above her head. She traced the vertical stripe with a finger, her thoughts wandering as she drifted toward sleep.

With an abrupt bang, a door flew open downstairs. She heard rushing wind and another bang. Now wide-awake again, Lucy sat up and stared toward the bedroom door. It was almost closed, and all she could see was a faint strip of light from the hall lamp. After a moment of silence, she lay back down, still watching the door.

The sound of voices filtered into the room, and footsteps, coming closer. A brighter light flashed on and the door flew open, making Lucy blink rapidly.

Through half-closed eyes, she watched Susan. Still dressed in a long coat and skirt, she crouched over her desk and pulled open a drawer, rummaging through it.

"Su?"

A tall figure appeared in the doorway, casting a shadow over Lucy's bed. She opened her eyes all the way again.

"Oh." Susan turned, her voice betraying her surprise. "Peter. I didn't expect you to wait up."

"I told you I was going to," their brother pointed out. "Mum and Dad said you needed to be back by ten. It's half-past," he added sharply.

Although Lucy couldn't see her face, Susan's posture betrayed her disgust. "Don't be so uptight." She plucked something from the drawer and shoved it closed. "What Mum and Dad don't know won't hurt them."

Peter rubbed his hair with one hand, casting a slight glance at Lucy's bed. She shut her eyes quickly, knowing that Susan would get even more of an earful if he thought their youngest sister was being disturbed. Sure enough, Peter lowered his voice as he said, "And who's to say they won't know?"

"Really, Peter?" Susan made no efforts to keep her voice low. "I never did think of you as a tattle."

"Lucy's trying to sleep," Peter hissed, his suppressed frustration clear.

There was a slight pause, and Lucy could picture Susan glancing toward her bed. "Well, I'll be gone in a minute, so don't get your knickers in a twist." She still wasn't whispering, but she wasn't yelling either.

"What do you mean?" Peter demanded. Lucy risked opening one eye, figuring his attention would now be entirely on Susan. She was right.

Susan shrugged her shoulders. "I left my bag at Jackie's, and William kindly offered to drive me back to get it."

"Susan!" Peter snapped, forgetting to keep his voice down. "It's almost eleven! What were you thinking? Get it tomorrow!"

"They're leaving tomorrow for Paris," Susan retorted. "I won't have time."

"If they're about to leave, I'm sure they don't want you disturbing them." Peter crossed his arms.

"Nonsense. Jackie is with us; she's the one that told me to come." She cast a pointed glance at the bed, although she didn't seem to really be seeing it. "Now, do you want to continue to argue about this and wake Lucy, or shall I go?"

Peter let out a low hiss of displeasure. "Susan Pevensie…" He trailed off, apparently at a loss for words.

Susan tilted her head. Lucy could picture her smug expression, and she made a fist under the blanket. How could Susan be so mean?

"Fine," Peter said at last. "But I'm coming with you."

Susan drew back a bit. "What?"

"I'm coming with you," Peter repeated. "That way, you're sure to be back at a decent hour."

There was a long moment of silence before Susan let out a quiet "hmph" and marched from the room. Peter pulled the door all the way closed and followed.

Lucy opened both eyes and sighed deeply. There was going to be a quarrel, although Peter would get his way in the end. Susan was too proud to argue with him in front of her friends, and he would likely just march straight out to the car. She had been especially stubborn and mean over the last few weeks, but she was still no match for him when he put his mind to something.

The hall light flicked off, and Lucy heard footsteps going down the stairs. Moments later, the front door slammed. "Peter!" Susan shouted sharply. It opened again, letting in the sound of whistling wind, and then there was silence .

Lucy rolled onto her back again, looking for more shadows. They were gone now, just like the friendship between Peter and Susan. She blinked back tears. "What happened to us?" she asked aloud. Everything had shifted around in the last year, and she wasn't sure where to put her trust anymore.

All was quiet now, except for the ticking of the grandfather clock in the hall. Although she shut her eyes dutifully, no matter how many positions Lucy tried, she couldn't seem to get comfortable. There was something wrong with her back, with both sides, and even with her stomach, a pose that usually worked when she was troubled.

Finally, she sat up. She hadn't heard anything, but maybe, just maybe, Peter was home again. But no, he couldn't be, because Susan wasn't. Whether she liked it or not, he wouldn't come back without her.

Lucy sat still on the side of her bed for a long minute, swinging her legs back and forth. Maybe reading would help. She reached for her book, but it wasn't on her nightstand. _That's right. I left it downstairs._

Not bothering with her slippers for such a short search, Lucy slid out of bed, tiptoed across the room, and pushed open the door. The upstairs hall seemed very different when she was alone in the dark.

She paused at the door to the boys' room. Holding her breath, she pushed it open gently. Peter's bed, on the left, was still neatly made, proving that he had never even lain down. She shook her head again at Susan's selfishness. Of course he wouldn't sleep until they were all safe.

Moving slowly, she stepped into the room, her eyes barely able to pick out the form of Edmund in the other bed. He had the sheets pulled up almost to his ears, although one foot stuck out and his pillow was on the floor. He let out a soft snore, and she chuckled. It wouldn't do to wake him.

As she slipped through the door, the hinges creaked. She froze, one hand still on the knob. _Did he hear? _She waited, holding her breath. When Edmund didn't say anything for a minute, she let it out again and started leave.

"Lu?" a sleepy voice asked.

Biting her lip, Lucy turned around. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you."

Edmund blinked a couple of times, yawning. "Where's Pete?"

"Out with Susan," Lucy murmured.

He paused in the act of rescuing his pillow from the floor. "Wasn't she supposed to be back by ten?" His voice was losing its tired edge and starting to sound more like a king's.

"She left something somewhere," Lucy explained. "She said she simply had to go get it, and so Peter went with her."

Edmund grunted, giving his pillow a few good whacks. That done, he lifted the sheets and jerked his head. "Come on, then."

Lucy paused, hovering in the doorway. He lifted the sheet even higher. "Hurry up! It's getting cold under here," he added grumpily.

Needing no more urging, Lucy scurried across the room and hopped up next to him. He dropped the blankets over her, and there was a moment of silence as they rearranged themselves.

"Thank you," she whispered finally, settling her head onto his chest.

He had to spit out a mouthful of her hair before he could answer, smoothing it down in a slightly-less-then-gentle fashion. "No problem." He wrapped an arm around her and tugged on the edge of the blanket, making sure it was covering her shoulders. "We 'children' have to stick together you know, especially if we're not planning on growing up," he added mischievously, misquoting Susan.

Lucy giggled, shoving a fist into his stomach. "Hey, hey," he protested, grabbing her wrist. "I'm just making a point."

She stuck her tongue out and pulled away, settling back down on the pillow, careful to keep her hair out of his face. "Go to sleep, Ed."

"I would just like to point out who is in whose bed here," he teased.

"Ed-_mund_," Lucy whined in her best tired-little-sister voice.

"All right, all right."

Both of them were silent for a moment. Lucy watched the wall, chasing new shadows from the moon, blinking more and more. But something was still wrong. "Ed?" she finally whispered.

"Hmm," he muttered drowsily, shifting the arm that had ended up under her head.

"Do you think Susan… will be back?" she asked softly, hopping he would understand her meaning.

He stopped moving, and for a moment she was afraid he had gone back to sleep. "I don't know, Lucy. I don't know."

She sighed, fiddling with edge of her covers. "That's not what I wanted to hear," she said, more to herself then to her brother.

"Sometimes Susan takes a while," he said after another long pause. "Remember the time in Terebinthia, with the Calormene?"

Lucy shuddered. "How could I forget?"

Edmund shifted again, pulling his arm in to his chest, out from under Lucy. "We all thought Susan was going to go back to Narnia and get help, because she was too afraid to do it herself. By then it would have been too late."

"But she didn't," Lucy finished. "She found some islanders and led them straight to us, at the very last minute. Armet was about to kill you."

Edmund nodded, clunking his chin against the top of Lucy's head. "Right. It took awhile, and scared us all silly, but she came through. No matter what, she always came through."

Lucy fell silent, looking up toward Edmund's face. All she could see was the bottom of his chin. She ducked farther under the blankets, closing her eyes. "Yes. Always."

Neither Pevensie said anything else. Lucy was finding it harder and harder to keep her eyes open. She had just closed them for what probably would have been the last time when there was a loud bang from the first floor. "It was embarrassing," Susan yelled.

"I was embarrassing?" Peter shot back. "You were the one who—"

"That's what everyone does these days! Keep up with the times, for pity's sake!"

The sound of running feet on stairs was cut short by a sharp, "Hush! You'll wake the others!"

"I'm sorry," Susan shouted in an even louder tone. "I wouldn't ever want to do _that_!" Seconds later, the hall light flashed on, and Susan stomped past. Lucy was facing away from the door, so she couldn't see her sister's face, but that was probably a good thing.

"Pretend to be asleep," Edmund hissed in Lucy's ear.

She nodded and buried her face in his chest. She could hear Peter coming down the hall and didn't want to upset him more.

The door creaked, and Lucy held her breath. _Go on, Peter. Go on. _She heard him start to tiptoe away.

Just then, Edmund let out a dramatic fake snore. That was too much for Lucy. She burst into laughter, unable to control herself.

"You gave it away," Edmund cried through his own laughter, pushing her backwards. They had both forgotten how narrow the bed was, and she dropped to the floor, pulling most of the covers with her. "Now see what you've done?"

Peter shook his head. "You two." His mouth trembled between a smile and a frown.

"She started it!" Edmund announced, jerking on his sheets. "Get off, Lu!"

She shook her head and grabbed two fistfuls of material, giggling so much it was hard to talk. "You snored! The first rule of pretending to be asleep is to _not_ snore!"

Susan appeared behind Peter, jerking a brush through her hair. "What are you _doing_?" she demanded. "And honestly, still sleeping together at your age?" Without waiting for an answer, she spun on heel and marched away.

"Come and join us, Su!" Edmund called after her. With one final pull, he got the blankets back from Lucy, bumping the wall as his momentum carried him backwards. "It's great fun!"

"Ha," she said from down the hall.

Peter sighed and turned toward the bathroom. "Well, you can crawl in with me, Lu."

Edmund shook his head. "She can stay." With a pretend glare, he added, "So long as she doesn't squish me."

Lucy bounced back up onto the bed, driving a fist into his stomach with mock ferocity. He flailed wildly, letting out a dramatic moan. "Woe is me, for the Valiant queen has brought me down!" He paused to jerk his blankets out from under Lucy's knees.

Susan appeared at the doorway again, now in her nightgown. "Will you two knock it off? I'm trying to get ready for bed."

Edmund frowned, nudging Lucy back to the floor, the laughter gone from his eyes. "Yeah, and we were trying to sleep about two minutes ago when you came barging in."

She rolled her eyes and headed for the stairs. After a minute, she shouted, "Peter! Hurry up! I have to wash my face."

Edmund sighed, sitting still against the wall. "Oh, Susan," he whispered.

Lucy tucked the bottom corner of the sheets back under the mattress and smoothed them out over her brother's legs. She fluffed the pillow and let out a sigh. "She always comes through, Ed. Always."

He looked at her and smiled a sad sort of smile, lifting the covers once more. "Come on, crawl in. I'm getting tired."

Rolling her eyes, Lucy obeyed. The two of them settled down again, and by the time Peter came in, Lucy's eyelids were feeling quite heavy, indeed. Letting out a quite yawn, she focused on the wall behind Edmund. The moon was again casting shadows. _If you tilt your head just right… yes, _she thought with a smile as her eyes closed for the final time. That spot of moonlight made a perfect lion.


End file.
